Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum

The inspiration

The Homestead preserves one family's century-long run through Los Angeles history, from the Mexican rancho days of the 1840s to the 1920s¹ . William and Nicolasa Workman emigrated from Taos, New Mexico, in 1841 while the land was still part of Mexico, and their family rose as cattle ranchers on Rancho La Puente before a bank failure wiped out most of their wealth² . After decades as a military school and convalescent hospital, the City of Industry bought the property and restored it, opening the museum in May 1981² .

Who's behind it

The City of Industry owns the museum, with Historical Resources, Inc. as manager and Paul R Spitzzeri as museum director¹ .

What to order

• La Casa Nueva: a Spanish Colonial Revival mansion filled with decorative tile, stained glass, carved plaster and wood .²
• El Campo Santo: the family's private cemetery from the 1850s, with a mausoleum completed around 1921 .²
• The gallery and gardens: part of a site that also includes workshops, lectures and festival programs .
• The collection: over 30,000 objects, searchable online, with appointments to see items in person .¹

What people are saying

The Smithsonian Institution calls the Homestead one of California's true historic treasures¹ . Atlas Obscura highlights it as an early California rancho tucked into LA's manufacturing hinterland³ . The Los Angeles Times has described the restored mansion's interiors, with artisans recreating wood carvings and fired glass, as like stepping into a stately 1920s Los Angeles home⁴ .

Why you should try it

If you're staying in the San Gabriel Valley, this six-acre patch of rancho-era California is a short detour into a story of ranchers, oil booms, busts and buried governors^4,2 . Two restored houses, a pioneer cemetery and a museum that walks you through how the region became what it is make an easy half-day escape from the usual sprawl¹ .